This is a scam, right?

[Railsigns]

Amazingly, Facebook has just deleted a fraudulent advert that I reported. Only after requesting a review though. I think I need to lie down for a while now...

 

[AlbertBeale]

But the original set-up, where they were not* classified as a publisher, appears to be the ”Get out of jail card.”

* How was this possible? Read and weep.

This is under US law.

There's surely no reason [apart from being frightened of upsetting massive global corporations] why another jurisdiction couldn't pass a law defining the beneficial owner and controller of any website address as being deemed to be the publisher of anything shown there (whether generated by others or not). An exception, in the case of lower level transgressions [ie not fraud, incitement to violence, etc etc], might be allowed where the contributed item contained explicitly, within its own text, the name, address, and other contact details of the author of the contribution, and the website owner had reasonable confirmation that those contact details were correct - then the contributor could easily be held responsible directly.

A newspaper publisher can he held accountable for something actionable on their letters page, for instance, even though someone else wrote the letter. If people want to say things online without being vetted in any way, they can buy their own web domain and publish stuff directly, in the same way that someone who doesn't get their letters published in a newspaper can produce their own leaflet and give it out.

 

[Krokodil]

This appears to be a different approach, someone has set up the below Twitter handle and is replying to disruption tweets claiming to be "Keisly Kent Avanti West coast Manager"[sic]. Appears to be phishing for mobile numbers.

x.com

x.com

Hello,we apologize for the inconvenience and such an experience with us. We would like to look at the problem raised further. Kindly share your mobile number we reach out and assist

 

[Jamesrob637]

This appears to be a different approach, someone has set up the below Twitter handle and is replying to disruption tweets claiming to be "Keisly Kent Avanti West coast Manager"[sic]. Appears to be phishing for mobile numbers.

x.com

x.com

On Twitter/X, I seen to be doing only one or both of the following:

1) Reporting "accounts" such as this one
2) telling Northern Assist what my, and most people's, definition of a coherent answer is.

Kind of soul-destroying, but these accounts need reporting else nothing will get done.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

This appears to be a different approach, someone has set up the below Twitter handle and is replying to disruption tweets claiming to be "Keisly Kent Avanti West coast Manager"[sic]. Appears to be phishing for mobile numbers.

There's hundreds of scammers trying this sort of thing at the moment with just about any public service business... fortunately the vast majority are very obvious and amateurish.

If they're expecting a phone number... it must be tempting to give them the number of the local nick...?

 

[dgl]

I suppose you could invoke a rule where any handle that contains the name of a company has to be approved by the company mentioned, or can only be created by the company themselves.
I believe where I work it's very much not allowed to use the company name in any social media handle as it could be seen as being an official company account when it isn't.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I suppose you could invoke a rule where any handle that contains the name of a company has to be approved by the company mentioned, or can only be created by the company themselves.
I believe where I work it's very much not allowed to use the company name in any social media handle as it could be seen as being an official company account when it isn't.

Most company's names aren't really unique, Avanti is also the name used by multiple other companies as well as being an Italian word.

 

[Kite159]

This appears to be a different approach, someone has set up the below Twitter handle and is replying to disruption tweets claiming to be "Keisly Kent Avanti West coast Manager"[sic]. Appears to be phishing for mobile numbers.

x.com

x.com

Nothing new there, fake customer service accounts have been around for a good few months. Mostly targetting airlines (do a tweet saying something about EasyJet or Ryanair and you will get the bots popping up) wanting to get personal details. Other TOCs have been targetted as well.

Just one of the benefits of Musk sacking lots of people

 

[John Luxton]

I note this evening a similar scam card is being offered for £9.99 in return for ones payment details.

I have reported it to FB as scam.

If you see one post a comment and report.

The one I saw was issued by "GB Rail Tickets"

Of course there were several pleased testimonials.

 

[David57]

I find it amusing reading these testimonials, I like to look at where these people are based, rarely in the UK!

 

[John Luxton]

I find it amusing reading these testimonials, I like to look at where these people are based, rarely in the UK!

I know but it is enough to take in some people. Only way to stamp it out is report each one we see and perhaps post a comment in the hope it prevents people from giving away their details.

 

[father_jack]

I find it amusing reading these testimonials, I like to look at where these people are based, rarely in the UK!

They're testimonials from accounts that have been hacked. The people making the testimonials have no idea that they are doing it.

 

[Halwynd]

Most of all financial crime I deal with originates from a Meta platform, particularly Facebook Marketplace. Our advice to victims is always to leave the platform, or at the very least do not use it to buy any goods or services.

Personally, I would charge Zuckerberg with facilitating the proceeds of crime.

 

[londonbridge]

I know but it is enough to take in some people. Only way to stamp it out is report each one we see and perhaps post a comment in the hope it prevents people from giving away their details.

I’ve taken to doing that, I’ve set up a shortcut on my phone so one key press results in my posting “SCAM” as a comment.

Similarly, there seems to be an abundance of fake or fan accounts relating to tv shows such as NCIS, posting out of date info relating to the show, or click bait headlines which result in loads of ads and other items that have nothing to do with the programme. On these I post “SPAM! IGNORE”….more often than not I then get a request from the page author inviting me to like or follow the page….

 

[Oxfordblues]

An obvious one today on my Facebook page, but my partner was nearly duped: https://antwon.info/uk/bi-mode-loco...It04d8yZ_v75kMEJmQ_aem_rAdDm_HxKfxdkbq7f7fGjA

 

[Railsigns]

I've found that the most effective way to have scam ads removed from Facebook is to flood the comments with scam warnings and memes. The scammers will often remove their ad almost immediately.

 

[Oxfordblues]

It's a measure of the naivety and innocent gullibility of so many people that they're taken in by the offer of a go-anywhere free pass for just £9.99 (why not £10?)

 

[joieman]

Twice the other day I received some scam texts from some random Filipino numbers, one claiming to be from Evri and the other from Royal Mail.

 

[jon0844]

Twice the other day I received some scam texts from some random Filipino numbers, one claiming to be from Evri and the other from Royal Mail.

After a drought, I am getting a lot more Evri related scam texts - and from foreign numbers rather than faked UK numbers.

 

[londonbridge]

The problem with Facebook is when you click on report a comment or content it gives you a list of reasons as to “what best describes the problem”, ie scam/fraud, fake profile/impersonation, abusive, misleading, etc, but it doesn’t allow you to add your own comment with further detail as to specifically what’s wrong.

One of the music artists I follow has had scammers on her page with a link offering limited edition artist T-shirts. She posted that there are no shirts and it’s a scam to harvest your data and bank details. They’re all bots and as fast as she reports and blocks one another pops up under a different fake profile name.

Anyway, one popped up a couple of days ago so I reported it as a scam. Needless to say I got an instant reply of we didn’t remove the content, we’ve taken a look and found this content doesn’t violate our community standards. If you think we got it wrong you can request a review.

So I click on request a review and again there’s a list of options as to why you want a review, so I clicked “I think Facebook misunderstood the content”. Couple of days later I get the same reply, along with the patronising “we understand this can be upsetting so here’s some other things you can do”, following which it tells you how to block the profile or delete facebooks responses from your support inbox.

Now “taken a look” can mean “as far as we’re concerned this is a link offering merchandise and we can’t see anything obviously wrong, so we’re not removing it”. Whereas if you were allowed to add your own comments as to exactly what’s wrong, , such as “the owner of this page has publicly verified that this is a scam/phishing attempt”, they might sit up and take a little more notice.

 

[dangie]

I think scam phone calls are now pretty much a given, in as much as whatever you do you’ll never eradicate them completely. I’ve grown to accept them, but what does p*ss me off are the recorded message calls. At least with a real person you can either string them along until they hang up, or simply tell them to !!!! off.

 

[londonbridge]

The recorded voice calls are mostly bots, I’ve noticed it will start asking questions that require a yes or no answer, if you say anything else it confuses it and it hangs up pretty quick. Example.

Caller: I gather you were involved in a car accident, is that right?

Me: Where did you get this number?

C: Sorry, when was the accident?

Me: repeat previous answer

C: So can you confirm the date of the accident?

Me: repeat previous answer

Line goes dead.

 

[Howardh]

Had an email supposedly from booking.com, telling me my card has been declined and needs updating.

Rather than me ignore it as a scam, I go to my booking bookings and find that same message there about my next trip.

Not sure if this is a scam or not (I'm due to pay the hotel on arrival but they need my card details in advance) so I have emailed the hotel, no reply as yet, I will probably give them my travel card details as money cannot be taken beyond £0, leave enough in to cover the first night.

 

[najaB]

Had an email supposedly from booking.com, telling me my card has been declined and needs updating.

Rather than me ignore it as a scam, I go to my booking bookings and find that same message there about my next trip.

It's likely a scam. Booking.com was hacked a while back (as long as a year ago) and the miscreants seem to still have access. One of my friends runs a hostel and back in April/May the same thing happened to most/all of his guests who had booked using Booking.com - they got an email saying that their card needed to be updated, and those who followed the link had substantial amounts of money removed from their accounts. I think the worst was over a thousand pounds.

What is shocking is that it's still going on and Booking.com haven't managed yet to figure out how and stop it.

I still use Booking.com but only with my Wise card so that they can't take what isn't there.

 

[Howardh]

It's likely a scam. Booking.com was hacked a while back (as long as a year ago) and the miscreants seem to still have access. One of my friends runs a hostel and back in April/May the same thing happened to most/all of his guests who had booked using Booking.com - they got an email saying that their card needed to be updated, and those who followed the link had substantial amounts of money removed from their accounts. I think the worst was over a thousand pounds.

What is shocking is that it's still going on and Booking.com haven't managed yet to figure out how and stop it.

I still use Booking.com but only with my Wise card so that they can't take what isn't there.

I got an email last night from booking.com telling me I had 6 hours to update the details or my booking could be lost.

Very suspicious.

But I worked out two options, either to cancel for free and rebook, or to go on site, change the card to one with a limit, and hope for the best.

I did the latter last night, and checking this morning nothing has been taken out. So it all appears to be genuine - all done automated when your "cancel for free" time expires.

It's all very concerning and I doubt I will use booking.com again and something they need to get a grip of.

 

[AY1975]

My Facebook has just come up with an advert that appears to be from an outfit called Public transport in Sheffield offering a special card for just £2 giving six months' unlimited travel on all public transport in South Yorkshire. It has a logo similar to the TravelMaster logo but with a lighter blue background. I've reported it to Facebook.

 

[swt_passenger]

Part of the text of an “unprotected PC scam” received just now, my bolding:

“We have temporarily regaccount because your subscription has rgrenewing your subscription to stay protected. If you do nothing, your account will be deleted within 48 hours, leaving you vulnerable to df.

Because the PC is not yet protected, it is dfruses and other logical errors...

Renewal gr available (- 80%)”

So is df or dfruses something people worry about?

 

[Krokodil]

There are definitely some logical errors there...

 

[londonbridge]

I was out yesterday when I got a text message from UK Power Networks giving my correct home postcode and saying they’d been made aware of an unplanned power cut. It gave an incident number and the website address. Feeling wary I typed the address in separately, rather than clicking the link, and saw it appeared to be genuine. I then messaged a neighbour who confirmed the electricity had indeed gone off earlier in the morning. So in this case it wasn’t a scam, but I’m just curious and interested as to where UK Power would have got my mobile number from, especially when a colleague at work also lost his power for a few minutes but didn’t receive a text.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@londonbridge. Does your leccy supplier not have your mobile number? May have notified UK Power Networks.